Huron Nf Places To Find Mushrooms And Hike

[Norby]

Looking for a good hike around south branch, roscommon, Luzerne area if anyone knows of a good walk.

Looking for a couple morels and other mushrooms, so a good forested area is what I'm looking for.  Have a few oints from the map but figured I might get a better idea from someone local.

[trichcycler]

I'm a picker too, but after I identify, my balls pull up and I toss the bulk of them back to the forest. wish I was closer to ya!

[Norby]

There are a bunch you don't really have to worry about.  There are no poisonous polypores in Michigan.  Chantarelles are easy if you know them from Jack O lanterns.  Umbrella polypore and miatake are pretty easy and chicken mushrooms. 

I'm growing some Oysters I got from Krogers and the cultures are doing well.  Just got my Shiitake and Blue Oyster Log yesterday and some Blue Oyster dowels and some Morel spawn which I seeded into a morel garden under the old apple trees. 

I want to go up N because summer mushrooms have started down here near Flint and I'd still like to try and find a few morels to seed the rest of the property.  Plus I'm just starting a yearly journal and need to study for the Michigan "expert mycologist" test to be able to sell wild mushrooms in MI.  Figure it'll be a nice hobby and may save a few bucks on some good meals here and at restaurants I go to.

I used my old tent as a clean room and am thinking of trying to make spore syringes and culture some wild mushrooms next.  I needed something to obsess over.  I'm not really happy unless I find a new thing to learn about and pour my energy into.  Mushrooms have the edible side and the medicinal side.  In Asia they still prescribe over 50 types of mushrooms for diabetes and boosting the immune system against cancer, anti viral and anti bacterial properties.

I'll be exploring most of the state so I'll eventually get to somewhere around you. pick a place you'd like to meet and look and I'll fit it into my hunting schedule.  Nearest crossroads works for driving directions to estimate time to get there.

[trichcycler]

I've cultivated chicken in the woods, morel, and shitake, the only ones I eat. There up now mostly. I spawn my own plug dowels and use logs for most of mine too.

I see and cut the wild ones, spend hours with my books, then discard, I such a wimp, I know.

[Norby]

I'm the opposite.  I started with morels in Oregon when I was working there.  They were easy to ID and abundant.  After that I worked in Missouri and that place was a mushroom mecca.  I had some small chantarelles, chicken mushroom, a fishy smelling bolete and a couple others that were easy to ID.  Tried some in NY and found lots of different edibles but didn't eat many.  Now that I'm here and there is a program for certification, I'm more apt to keep going.  There is something about a certified program and the info with it(no look alikes, etc.) that makes me even more confident.  It's stupid because it's a multiple choice test and you only have to get 80% to pass but I think that means there isn't much to worry about with the ones on the list.  Before I'd just use my guide book and see the rating and give it a try.  What I did was learned the poisonous ones first and didn't pick anything that looked even remotely close.

I know what you mean though.  I had problems eating the first rabbit and deer I took because I was solely responsible, it was daunting.  by the time I had my first full meal, all done by my hand(beans, lettuce, deer, tomatoes, swiss chard, zucchini, etc.) I kinda got over the idea of finding it, picking it, growing it or killing and cleaning it, rather than buying it.  I understand mushrooms are a whole different level considering you could die from it, not just get food poisoning.

You don't have to eat anything though, I just enjoy the company and extra eyes in the woods. Those black trumpets can be a chore to spot.

[trichcycler]

I lost a childhood (adult)friend to mushroom poisoning. I know its rare, but he was heli'd to a hospital and still died. It happened while on a big fam/friend camping trip and it scared me . I challenged myself in the 90's to learn as much as I could about the fungi world and stepped into cultivation of edible varieties. Buttons and shitake grown indoors and the remaining outdoors. I only confidently eat what I planted. I used to swallow morels like they were marshmallows until I learned of those poison fake ones. I gave up.  I still hunt, still grow outdoors only. what animals eat mushrooms?

[phaquetoo]

Norby I would love to have you up my way, since we have already met, maybe I could learn how to find the morals, I lose interest real fast, did I give you my number when we met, if not pm me I will get you my phone number, im in iosco county and the huron national forrest is all around me, but I also know of places that dont only have pine trees, I beleive I know what kind of envirement they grow in, I just can find them suckers lol!

 

Peace